Case Number 23093

AGE OF HEROES (BLU-RAY)

The Charge

Thrust into Action Destined for Greatness

Opening Statement

The structure of a wartime special mission film is well established, and
there are any number of good examples to use when developing a war movie.
Director/co-writer Adrian Vitoria doesn't appear to have seen any of them,
though, and the result is a movie that takes a bunch of stock characters and
plot points, flings them all up in the air, and then duct tapes them together in
a half-hearted attempt to create a coherent narrative. E1 Entertainment brings
us Age of Heroes (Blu-ray), a war movie that breaks any number of
conventions, possibly including those from Geneva.

Facts of the Case

In the early days of World War II, Corporal Rains (Danny Dyer, The Devil's
Playground) finds himself in the stockade after striking a superior officer.
He sees a chance for redemption in the form of Major Jones (Sean Bean,
Goldeneye), who arrives to rescue a colleague who was inadvertently
imprisoned. Rains convinces Jones to take him as well. Before long, Bains finds
himself training for the newly formed 30 Commando Unit.

After enduring training in the Scottish highlands, the men discover their
mission: a new technology, radar, lets Germany detect Allied plants seventy-five
miles off the European shores. The team is to infiltrate a radar position in
Norway and destroy it. The wanton destruction is only a disguise: their real
mission is to bring back as much information about the German systems as
possible, so that the Allies can determine how to jam the German radar. Back at
naval operations, their progress is followed by the man who brought them
together: the director of naval intelligence, a chap by the name of Ian Fleming
(James D'Arcy, Secret Diary of a Call Girl). You may have heard of
him.

The Evidence

Where the hell is Alistair MacLean when you really need him? The basic plot
is right out of one of his novels -- commando unit with an impossible mission, a
beautiful member of the Norway resistance (Izabella Miko, House of
Usher), an airdrop, explosions, and, of course, Nazis.

Sadly, Age of Heroes plays out as though it was assembled by people
who knew what elements are supposed to be in a good war movie, but did not
understand the concept of pacing. So we get a little bit of The Dirty
Dozen, a dash of The Guns of Navarone, a dollop of Where Eagles
Dare, a soupçon of Inglourious Basterds, and Jesus, Mary, and
Joseph, the result is a steaming pile of meh. They might have missed a war movie
cliché, but only because of the limited run time. Noble leader pulled back
in for one last mission? Check. Said leader's wife is expecting? Check. (Hint:
Foreshadowing that a Sean Bean character is doomed is redundant. The fact that
it's Sean Bean is more than sufficient. That's what he does.)

Age of Heroes combines weak characterization with a poorly focused
script, clumsily directed action sequences, and indifferent editing. The sad
thing is, the basics of a solid film are there; they just needed a clearer hook.
Given the emphasis on the Ian Fleming link (Fleming oversaw the commando unit's
developments, and the experience largely informed his Bond novels) in the
promotional materials, you'd think there would be more focus there, but no.
There's no character development, so we don't really care for anyone. The
putative lead is Corporal Rains, but once the mission starts, the movie focuses
on everyone but Rains. It's such a mess that one suspects the movie was
edited by Freddie Krueger. The most frustrating thing about this movie is that
buried in the piles of mediocrity are the elements for a taut war thriller.

Technically, Age of Heroes (Blu-ray) is as weak as the film. While
there isn't much in the way of compression artifacts, edge enhancement, or any
of the other problems that often plagued DVDs, the level of detail in this
2.35:1/1080p high definition transfer is closer to DVD than Blu-ray. Contrast
levels make the snowy exteriors woefully indistinct; however, there is good
detail on close-ups. The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio, on the other hand, is quite
good, with excellent ambient noise and effective imaging -- you really get the
sense of pitched battles going on all around the camera.

In terms of extras, there's a good featurette on the history of the 30
Commando Unit, including interviews with some surviving members. We also get a
few sound bites from the actors, a couple of deleted scenes, a blooper reel, and
some random behind-the-scenes footage. Sadly, they're all about as unfocused as
the movie itself.

Age of Heroes only theatrical release happened in Great Britain,
hence the lack of a rating. In the United States, it would be a solid R due to
language and some violence.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

Though the script is too much of a mess for anyone to really shine, the
performances are good, given what the actors have to work with. Yes, I'm
reaching here. The cinematography is also pretty good, given what I suspect was
a very limited budget.

Closing Statement

The 30 Commando Unit deserves so much better than Age of Heroes
(Blu-ray). For that matter, so does the audience.